Most of the houses (other than really nice, and expensive "gingerbread" houses) are built in the 40's-60's and are thereby easier to rehab and maintain than Hyde Park (which are often turn of the century).

@Scott Kays Another advantage of using land trusts - they give you a layer of anonymity (not liability protection) that works great with the LLC (which gives you the liability protection), and keeps your name out of the public records (supposedly, you still have to be careful, e.g. with the title mistakenly recording the trust documents too).As I mentioned, be careful when choosing to use a Quit Claim Deed - to maintain your title chain, you have to do it through a more expensive Warranty Deed (which might be another reason to use land trust, just check how they work together):A person receiving a purported real estate interest via a quitclaim deed may receive no legal right to the property whatsoever.

A Warranty Deed would be recommended, as opposed to a Quit Claim Deed, in order for the investor to maintain Title Insurance.

I am not a fan of rental arbitrage (renting a property from someone else and then renting on on VRBO or Airbnb)But as the owner you would hold all the cards.Here are some advantages for you:Someone else is doing all the work.Rent is paid before someone stays so you will likely get paid on time everymonthYou could negotiate a higher rental rateYou property is maintained at a higher level.

@Charlie Moore hopefully you have some clause within your lease that spells out that the tenant's responsibility of upkeeping and maintaining the property (including lawn care)

@Jerryll Noorden Good point, our process is as follows:Mailers/Online AdvertisingCall center receives incoming leads and sets appointmentsSales agents run appointments and get property under contractDispositions team sets purchase price and sets up walkthroughsReceive offers and make final decisionRinse and repeatThe process itself isn't revolutionary, just that our team has effective people and we always maintain open lines of communication through our CRM, being in the office, and encouraging a culture where phone calls and texts are common.

I also own buildings with boilers and furnaces, and I can say that if well maintained, they are not that big of a deal either.

I would maintain life insurance until the point that I am comfortable that my family would be okay without me.

You have to pay to open and maintain it.Build up your portfolio and then open LLC’s for the properties.

What I mean by mental investment is that thoughout the ups and downs of the housing market and economy ,in the United States , having a income producing property in Colombia that even without tenants or someone staying in the unit it cost me less than$1500 a year to pay taxes, maintain property , and have a company rent the property when I am not there.